Adorable Disasters
by miekhead
Summary: Artie and Pete are left to look after the Warehouse kidlets when their parents are needed elsewhere. As suggested by the title, disaster ensues. Fourth in the Innkeeper's Caretaker Series. Pairings: Bering and Wells, Cleena, Artie & Vanessa.


**A/N:** This is based on a prompt I got from an anon but it went on to becoming fourth in the _Innkeeper's_ _Caretaker_ series. If you haven't read Artifact Baby-Making for Dummies, or The Treehouse Project, you probably won't know what's really going on. And if you haven't read The Innkeeper's Caretaker before those two, you _really_ won't know what's going on. Many questions about the agents' whereabouts will get answered in the next chapter.

oxoxoxo

The thing that came hand in hand with working for the Warehouse was helping your family out when they needed you. And that day, unfortunately for both Pete Lattimer and an aged Artie Nielsen, being needed meant they were royally screwed.

Leena rushed into the living room, a purse over her shoulder, her winter coat on, and a bottle in her hand. "Okay, so… there's three bottles of milk defrosting in the fridge, here's some for now…" She thrust the bottle blindly in Pete's direction and began to put on her shoes. "Just make sure that when you heat it—"

"Leena," Pete rolled his eyes, cradling the infant against his shoulder and rubbed her tiny back to stop her from squirming. "I know how to warm milk, okay? Warm water, bowl… etc etc. We got this, right Artie?"

Artie was sat in his favorite armchair; Elliott curled up on his left side, Lil on the other, snuggled onto his lap. He looked up and smiled fondly. "Leena, stop worrying. We are perfectly capable of looking after three children."

Leena pursed her lips and with amused eyes, pointed over at Daniel who was playing a game on his laptop.

"Four." Artie corrected, eyes darting over to Leena. "Four, that's what I meant. Four."

"Okay," Leena held in a laugh and bent down to press a kiss to her young daughter's head. Little Olivia was three months old and was already proving to be a handful. Leena's theory had been correct, and Liv was already showing signs of being the complete carbon copy of one Claudia Donovan. Nights were overwhelmed by unbelievably loud infantile screams and at times, the innkeeper would merely roll over in bed and mutter "She's yours, you do it."

And yet, Olivia, of course named after Steve's late sister, now sat in Pete's arms, head on his chest, fist in her mouth and looked quite the epitome of innocence. Her big hazel eyes shone glassily as fatigue took over and Leena had no choice but to give the baby another kiss.

"I'll be back soon," she promised to Pete and wandered over Artie, bending down. "Ell," she waved at her son to get his attention. "Elliott?" His eyes shifted to her and he grinned widely. "Hey," she smiled. "Mommy's got to go shopping, okay? So Grandpa Artie and Uncle Pete are going to look after you and tell you stories and stuff like that." The two year old nodded and gripped Artie's cardigan in his little fist with excitement looking back down at the storybook in Artie's hands. "Well that was easy," she grumbled light-heartedly to Artie and chuckled, bending to kiss Elliott's head. She smiled as his curly hair tickled her lips and looked down to see him happily waving goodbye at her.

Just after Olivia was born, Claudia had raised the concern that their son was unable to concentrate, or focus when he was being spoken to. Leena had too noticed the boy's little daydream sessions and his inability to say as many words as the rest of the children in daycare. When they took him to the doctor, he was tested and had failed a hearing test. They had found that he was almost completely deaf in one ear, and had mild hearing loss in the other. Initially, Claudia had blamed herself, and with a new baby in the house she had completely freaked out, apologizing to Leena over and over again that she was sorry for using an artifact, that she would never do anything stupid like that again and that she hoped she could forgive her. Leena had merely rolled her eyes, kissed her and told her there was nothing to forgive.

Pete was great, and had helped Claudia understand that this was seriously not the end of the world. He'd introduced Elliott to his sister Jeannie, and one day the two had played with toys all afternoon, Elliott squealing with delight each time a jack in the box exploded out in front of him. Pete made Claudia watch, and showed her that he was a ridiculously happy child who would have a great future and had people who loved him.

Weeks later, Elliott's molds had finally come in, and the toddler was fitted with his very own hearing aids. When Claudia watched his little face suddenly perk up at the sound of the music they were playing, she'd burst in to tears. He clapped his hands and kicked his legs, and was soon put down on the floor, pottering around the room and swaying to the music.

Leena smiled as she looked at him, snug as a bug against his 'grandpa' and truly wondered why Claudia had ever felt ashamed about helping her create him. He was perfect.

Leena felt eyes on her, and she pointed a glare at Lillian who was scowling steadily at her. She sighed and looked at her watch before making a decision and bending down in front of the young girl. "Honey, when your mommies come back, I promise you can have your coloring set back, okay?"

"You said that yesterday," the three year old huffed, crossing her little arms.

"I did, but they got held back. And if they're not back by tonight, I will give it to you myself - how's that?"

Lil let out a tiny smile and thumped her head against Artie's chest. "Okay." Her beloved coloring set had been taken off of her due to the huge waxy drawing above Claudia and Leena's bed. Leena had to admit, it was pretty adorable; scribbles everywhere and blobs that were supposedly meant to be each and every one of them. As cute as it was, though, the wallpaper was ruined and there was no way of getting it off, so Claudia had grumbled as she pulled the whole bed away from the wall, scraping off the old wallpaper and starting again. The only thing she had been thankful for was the fact that her wife had kept the same roll for the past 30 years in the basement. Of course, Myka had insisted they take a picture of her daughter's masterpiece before it was so rudely covered up. Either way, Lil was now truly sorry but also pouty and held a massive grudge, particularly towards the innkeeper.

"Okay? Good." She stroked her goddaughter's hair and smiled, raising up and wincing at the click in her knees. "I should be back for 5." She said, and with that she left the house, persuading herself that this was a good idea, that she needed some time away from the kids and she wasn't doing something incredibly stupid by letting the two men take care of them.


End file.
